


The Way I See It

by dreamsquirrel



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-03 12:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1744124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsquirrel/pseuds/dreamsquirrel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine the world without color. Every day, the world we walk is painted in black and white, and every shade in between. However, it's rumored that if one finds his soul mate, then the true colors of the world will be revealed - but a lot of people nowadays don't believe in that kind of thing. However, Hazuki Nagisa does, and just when he's on the verge of believing that the idea is just a fairy tale, he catches sight of a stranger who will unknowingly change his world forever.</p>
<p>Free!Iwatobi Swimclub Reigisa AU in first person P.O.V. (Nagisa's). Tags and Rating may change as chapters are added.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Red

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! This was inspired from a short post I saw on tumblr (http://officialpizzas.tumblr.com/post/84706200430/red-orca-pleasegodletmelive-owynsama) that basically said what would it be like if the world was black and white until you found your soul mate. This was kind of on the spot, and I don't exactly know where I'll be going with this, but I've got some ideas, so I'm not flying blind.
> 
> Anyway, this is from Nagisa's perspective and I don't plan on changing that. I don't usually do first person P.O.V., but when I got the idea, I couldn't really see it from any other view, so I'm just going to go with it. Critiques are always welcome!
> 
> Happy Reading!

 

"There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed." - _Napoleon Bonaparte_

 

* * *

 

 

My entire life, I've never seen a color.

It's not that I'm blind or anything, it's just the way this world works for some reason. Yes, that's right - no one can see colors. I mean, I have heard about them, from stories of a long time ago, but for some reason the whole world is painted in black and white and millions of greys now. And the only reason that I have -or really, anyone else has- heard of such a thing as "colors", is because of the select few that actually _can_ see them. No, it's not because they were born with it, it's just that for some reason, one day, their entire world began to bloom into color.

From what I read in a story once, it was said that this only happens when you find your soul mate, but a lot of people don't believe that. Not a lot of people believe that seeing colors is possible anymore. "With the world in grayscale, there's a lot of things you never really have to worry about," that's what my sisters said. And that's probably what a lot of other people think too, but I beg to differ.

I would give anything to see colors.

I'd love to see the pigment of my eyes, my hair, my sisters' eyes and all of their hair; every hue in a brush stroke on a painting; every tuft of fur on the animals that I watch over at the zoo... the list goes on for ages. A lot of people call me crazy for wanting to see such things, but I'd imagine colors be beautiful.

I mean, just imagine the rainbow effect of fireworks, the lush vividness of a bouquet of flowers! Sure, they're pretty when they're just a series of dark and grey and white petals bunched together, but a vibrant flower would be like a billion yen to me!

I couldn't help but daydream about this as I made my way over to the Iwatobi Zoo, where I've been working for the past couple of years. The sun was shining, and the sky was a very light gunmetal, not a single spot of white in the sky. A lovely day for the summer, huh? Dressed in my uniform, I buzzed my way through the zoo and all the way to the penguin exhibit. It's not like I was late or anything, no way!  Okay, maybe I was, but the walk from my little apartment to the zoo is a very long one. Sure, I could take the bus, but I like walking around and looking at everything, imagining what every building and sign looked like if it had coloration.

A silent shiver made my skin peak into goosebumps as I walked into the building for penguins; it's always super cold in here for the little guys' sakes. The exhibit was one large room with a bridge running through the middle where guests could walk through. And below them were flocks of little penguins -most of them deep midnight colors except for the fluffy little babies who were a gentle mousy color- all slipping and sliding on their brilliant white glaciers, and some dipping into the cool silver-colored water. Heavy buckets of fish swung in my hands as I walked out, stepping around carefully as to not slip on the ice, with a chorus of loud "Caw! Caw!"-ing behind me. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I stopped and turned around to see the mass of excited penguins waddling behind me.

"One at a time!" I laughed, "One at a time!"

As I began to hand out the slick -and kind of smelly- fish, the murmur of a crowd walking in rose to my ears, and I perked up. It looked like a group of college students were walking in, and a big one too! As the little colony of people stepped over the bridge, I grinned, then glanced back down at the penguins. "Ready?" I asked them, as if they were really listening.

Without warning, I threw a fish up into the air, and one lucky rock-hopper that was paying attention jumped up in the air, snagging the treat in his mouth with his dark-colored beak. All the others that watched him broke out into an uproar, waddling around and shaking their heads, flapping their flipper-like wings as if saying, "What is this, a circus?!" Without even sparing the group above me a glance, I could feel their excited eyes observing me.

To be honest, anyone would be excited to see penguins jumping in the air.

Another little laugh escaped my lips as I began to throw up more and more fish, and the penguins cried out as they fell over each other, scrambling to catch the flying food. The college students busted out into applause and I was going to turn around to bow for them, but a tiny cheep caught my ears instead. A little puff of white and grey was staring up at me expectantly, its big, black eyes sparkling with need. I melted at the sight, since the little baby penguin was just so cute! I scooped it up into my arms and giggled as it cheeped at me again. I could hear a few girls from the group go "Aww!" and the grin that was already on my face spread wide.

"...yes, that's Nagisa for you, always making a show out of things!" laughed the tour guide that was with them, and my eyes finally flickered up to see them. There weren't that many, but they were all still watching me. Very carefully, I took a hold of the penguin's little flipper and waved it up at the group, since people get a real kick out of that. The expressions on the girls' face was priceless, with bright eyes and cheeky smiles, and even some of the boys in the group too. "Now if we head out of here, we'll be able to see..." the guide continued as she started walking away, the students following after.

I was about to turn my head back to the penguins, but then suddenly something else caught my eye.

It was a flash of something, something vibrant and bright and it popped out to me immediately. A pair of glasses I think -I wasn't sure if they were sunglasses or reading spectacles, since whoever it was instantly disappeared into the crowd- on someone's face. They were shiny and square, a little on the smaller side maybe, but the color wasn't any sort of gray that I had ever seen. Nor were they black or white. They were something different, like the shade of an apple maybe, but yet they weren't. They were....they were...

_Red._

The word rang in my mind, and I froze. I could feel my heart stop beating, the world slowly moving around me as if I was in a movie or something. The outcries of all the penguins in the exhibit, the laughter of the children, the conversations of the guests, even the chirping protests of the little chick in my arms, all if it was silent.

"Red," the word escaped my mind and drifted through the air like a soft wind. It was as if I could suddenly speak another language, and even then I couldn't understand myself. That person, whoever they were, had something that was the color red. That person had red on their face! There was color right in front their eyes, could they not see it?! I set the penguin down and dumped the fish out for the other penguins to enjoy, and darted out of the Employees Only door, my heart beating a million miles a minute. I had to find that group!

"Wait!" I shouted as I threw the door open and ran out to the main street of the zoo. My eyes were wide and wild as they darted between every single person in the throng of other patrons. I sputtered off apologizes like a broken record as I dipped and dived my way through the crowd, desperate to find that person. Suddenly, I found myself reaching the ticket gates of the zoo, and I could see them through the ticket window hopping onto the bus, and for a moment I saw that red frame again.

The owner of the colored glasses frame was a tall man in a dark shirt and light shorts. He had a thin but muscular physique, maybe he was a track runner or a swimmer? I wasn't quite sure, but he looked pretty athletic. His hair was a dark color too, and I couldn't see his face from here, but I could see a part of those brilliant red glasses, and I stopped in my tracks as soon as he was swallowed up by the bus. As it drove away, I stared, left sweating and panting in the summer heat of the afternoon.

There he went.

There _it_ went, the color "red".

My only chance to see a color, and to maybe see more of them was gone. My heart sank like a rock into my stomach, and I swallowed to soothe my drying throat. I hunched over, hands resting on my knees as I tried to catch my breath, but the only thing my mouth caught was my bottom lip between my teeth, trying to bite back the tears that beaded in my eyes. Frustrated, I stood back up and watched as the bus disappeared into the town, feeling hollow. _I'll never see that again_ , I thought to myself and turned away, hugging myself. Tentatively, I took a step back and back all the way to the exhibit. I needed to clean the snow out anyway.

That image stung inside my head, every time I closed my eyes I saw those glasses, and I only became more agitated. I had to find them again, I just had to! There was no way I was going to let something like this, something so exponentially important get away!

But yet, I couldn't help but feel like the odds of me seeing that person again were far too steep.

But then again, maybe not.

-x-

As hard as I pushed to investigate what college that was that had visited, my boss wouldn't let me see -he's such a meanie!- and the tour guide had left for the day so all I could do was trudge back to my penguins and pout at them. The penguins were their same old selves, waddling around and slipping and sliding, but not even that could cheer me up. Even the "Caw! Caw!" sound that I heard all day long didn't even cheer me up. In fact, it annoyed me. I just couldn't get that color out of my head.

Even when I went to sleep, I could remember the color red starkly standing out against the world of black and white.

The next morning was the same as usual: get up, scarf down some sugary cereal, throw on my clothes and head to work. And even at work it was the same, like nothing had happened. Had no one else seen those red glasses? I asked co-workers, and they said they saw nothing of the sort, and I couldn't ask the tour guide from yesterday because she wasn't working today. My boss had to yell at me once or twice since I was apparently working much slower today than I usually do. Even though the world is monochrome black and white, I felt even grayer than usual.

I had to clean up a lot of poop today too!

I knelt down in my long rubber boots and scrubbed and scrubbed, my face paling at the smell. Sure from the bridge where everyone walked through, they couldn't smell it -mostly because the bridge was surrounded by glass- but I could, and it was pretty thick and horrible. Thankfully, Mako-chan was there to help. His full name is Makoto, but I just think that Mako-chan sounds so much cuter.

"It really smells today, huh, Nagisa?" His voice broke my gloomy thoughts as I scrubbed the poop away.

" _Ugh_!" I groaned, pausing to throw my whole self into the sound, then began to scrub again. "Yeah, it does."

"Are you okay? Usually you don't mind it so much," he added, raising an eyebrow. He made me sound like I was sick or something, but it wasn't that. I just couldn't shake the heavy feeling in my chest from yesterday.

I sat upright and rested my gloved hands in my lap, not really sure what to say at first. "Hey, this might sound crazy, but I saw a color," didn't really seem like the best thing to say. Seeing colors wasn't necessarily taboo, it was just so bizarre. It would probably have the same effect on people if I said, "So I decided I want to live with penguins all day every day for the rest of my life."

"I saw someone yesterday," I ended up telling him, "that I wouldn't mind seeing again."

That made Mako-chan fall silent and stop scrubbing. He gawked at me, then grinned, eyes lighting up. "Ooh, Nagisa, you're not in _love_ , are you?"

"N-No!" I gasped, my face heating up, "I only just _saw_ that guy, it doesn't mean I'm in love or anything, Mako-chan! He just seemed like an interesting person." I pouted at him before returning to my scrubbing duties, and he laughed.

"I'm just messing with you," he chuckled as he shook his head, "But maybe if you hope enough you'll see him again. Isn't it if you wish hard enough for something then it'll come true?"

"I wish that was the case," I sighed, "Then I would be a billionaire and have my own penguin!"

Mako-chan just laughed at me again and let out an easy-going breath. He was just that kind of person, I guess, always so gentle about everything. I'd never see him angry, and I really hope I would never have to, since I have a feeling he's the kind of guy that's super scary when he's mad. 

Finally, after scrubbing around the whole exhibit for an hour or so, the exhibit was squeaky clean and smelled like disinfectant. I didn't love the smell, but it was much better than hot and smelly bird poop. I stood up and stretched, my legs feeling stiff from crouching so much, and I was really getting tired of the squeaking of the rubber boots and gloves. "All clean!" I announced, feeling a little better.

"Yup," Mako-chan agreed as he rose to his feet, "All clean. I jut wonder who that guy is."

"Hm? What guy?"

"Up there, he's been here this whole time," Mako-chan folded his arms and nodded his head up in the general direction of the bridge. I followed his gaze and jumped

_Red_!

A single man was standing up on the bridge, scribbling something down in a little dark book. His dark hair fell in front of his face for a moment, but I could see those red frames hook around his pasty white ears. They stood out brightly against the rest of the world, like a ray of sunshine between the darkest of clouds. My rubber-booted feet suddenly took off, leaving Mako-chan in the dust and snow. "Huh? Nagisa!" He called out behind me, but I chose not to hear it. I slipped out of the back door and immediately darted back into the exhibit so that I could dash across the bridge until I nearly ran over the person. My rubber boots skidded squeakily to a stop before him, and it took me a moment to catch my breath. I really need to work out more, since these sudden sprints are getting to me!

The other man was busy scribbling away in his little book, pen writing down every detail of something. I couldn't tell you the subject matter, but I could tell you that the man with the red-framed glasses was very into his work. From the clenched jaw and furrowed brow, I felt like I was invisible. However, his head suddenly snapped up, and he made a distasteful face. "What is that awful sme--" he was going to say aloud, but his eyes slowly met mine, and he jumped backward, nearly tripping on himself. "Woah! When did you get here?!" He exclaimed, adjusting those ruby glasses quickly. A softer color rose to his face as he stared at me.

_Pink._

Pink bloomed on his white skin, moreso on his ears. I really hope I didn't scare him that much! "Oh, me?" I played dumb, looking around as if other people were around, "I just got here. You, however, I saw yesterday!" A grin pulled at the corners of my lips.

That pink color vanished as the person with the ruby glasses looked me up and down, the blush gone. His eyebrows scrunched together, and his sharp nose crinkled too. Snapping the little journal shut with one hand, he put the other hand over the other. "Yeah, my group in my Biology class was able to tour the Zoo yesterday for part of a project. I'm guessing you work here?"

"Yeah!" I answered adamantly, my smile only growing wider, "How can you tell?"

"The smell."

His answer was flat and unimpressed, but it struck me like an anvil on my head. I looked down and realized I was still in my cage-cleaning gear, and I felt the heat rise to my cheeks and my ears. _Damnit!_ "A-Ah, yeah," I laughed nervously, "J-Just cleaned up the exhibit! It was a lot of hard work!"

"Clearly."

I froze, feeling like I was cornered. I really hope I wasn't annoying him, but by his tone of voice and the way that he kept glancing away from me, I knew that I was. "Sooooo," I dragged on the word, taking a step back, "What's this project that you have to do?" Wait, was I trying to make small-talk? The man's eyebrow twitched. He was probably wondering why I was still here, but I think he could see that I had no intention of moving.

"My group-mates and I have to do an intensive study and essay on an animal from one of the many biomes. As I was selected to do the coastal ice and rock biome, I felt it was most appropriate to report on penguins," the man answered evenly, adjusting his glasses again.

"Really? That's awesome!" I mused, my eyes sparkling. "I could give you a whole lot of information if you'd like, since I'm kind of the one who takes care of all these penguins almost every day!" I outstretched my arms and spun around as I spoke, as if trying to express the enormity of the exhibit. Of course I didn't do all the work in here myself, but I did a lot, and I was trying to sound somewhat impressive, so I felt I had the right to stretch the truth a teensy bit.

The other man's eyes caught mine for a moment, and I had that weird feeling again: the one where my heart stops and I can't hear anything and I feel like the rest of the world's faded away.

"Would you?" he asked, expression changing to something more forgiving, "That would honestly help me out a lot. Yes, I could read for hours on end, but a direct source would give me the ultimate credibility! What's your name, by the way? My name is Ryugazaki Rei."

"Uwah!" I gasped, "You have a girly name like me! But I like it, Rei-chan, and I'd love to help you out! I'm Hazuki Nagisa, but you can go ahead and call me Nagisa if you want."

"Don't use such informalities!" Rei-chan chastised at me, but I brushed it off. I could feel my grin widen so much it hurt, and I felt like I was practically glowing from happiness. He glared at me for a moment then sighed roughly, flipping to the back of the little dark journal in his hands. He quickly scribbled down an address and ripped out the paper, then handed to me as he said, "You can meet me at this café down the road later on today, and we can talk there."

I accidentally snatched the paper from his hands and scanned over it quickly, probably looking a little too excited for this. "Yes! I get off at around 6 this afternoon, but uh..." I slowly looked down at my feces-ridden boots, the giddy glow fading as I realized I looked like a mess.

"We'll meet up at 8 then," Rei-chan insisted, following my gaze and understanding, "Make sure to wash thoroughly and properly."

"Y-Yeah!" I stammered, the embarrassment making my tongue trip over itself, "I will, don't worry. I don't always smell this bad, it's the penguin's fault!" Rei-chan just rolled his eyes at me and slid the journal into his pocket.

"I'll see you at 8 then," he said and turned around for the exit, "See you."

As he disappeared behind the doors of the exit sign, I stood still. Yeah, the color was gone, but it would return to this address right in my hand! I glanced down at the piece of paper again, and grinned, jumping around and spinning, an excited "Eeee!" slipping from my grinning lips.

I couldn't believe it! I just couldn't believe that this person had come back to the penguin exhibit. Sure, he looked utterly disgusted to see me -and smell me- and he probably wasn't looking forward to this little get-together as much as I was, but that didn't stop him from taking the offer and indirectly make me super excited. My heart was racing and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but I couldn't help myself.

Heading back to the backdoor of the exhibit, I couldn't help but pray that Rei-chan and I would become great friends.

_Would I be able to see the world in color then?_

 

 

* * *

 

Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon! If you have any sort of questions or anything, you should totally go check out my tumblr (a-phoenix-from-the-ashes.tumblr.com) and send me an ask. Thank you for reading!


	2. Violet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this world, the ability to see color has been long gone, and the supposed way that one can regain such ability is by finding their true love, their soul mate. Not a lot of people believe in such things anymore, since it's a very rare event, but Nagisa is one of the few that does, especially after meeting the person named Ryugazkai Rei. In order to work on Rei's college class project, he and Nagisa collaborate together in a nearby cafe. However, will Nagisa be able to see the rest of the colors with this stranger, or will this stroke of luck run short?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad I finally finished the chapter! I've been busy lately, and of course, there's always other distractions that have gotten in my way (parents, a little brother, tumblr, the like). Sorry that it took so long, but here it is! The next installment of "The Way I See It"! 
> 
> Thank you to everyone whose read through this and/or have given me kudos/comments. It's really encouraging to see that other people have an interest in this story.
> 
> Happy reading!

"The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open."  – _Chuck Palahniuk_  


 

* * *

 

_This is crazy._

_Absolutely crazy._

My mind and heart were running a million miles a minute on the way back to my apartment. It was a small place, but it's not like I needed a whole lot of space, since I'm just a single guy living by myself. However, for the first time, I felt like I was suddenly cramped, since my imagination was practically overflowing with the hundreds of thoughts crossing it. At first, I had thought the imagination was some bottomless pit that you could fill for ages, yet after meeting Rei-chan, the only thing that was infinite was the number of thoughts that I had. Maybe at the café, I'd spill something or he'd spill something, and I would say "Here, take my napkin," or he would say "Do you need a napkin?" and then one of us would reach for the napkin-holder, or maybe both of us would and I could brush the skin on top of his fingers for a moment, and jeeze, I need to slow down!

Well, see _he's_ cute and _I'm_ cute, so we should be fine, right? I imagined his face in my head as I buzzed around my room, looking for the best clothes to change into after I showered. With nothing but a towel around my waist, I dug through the closet like an explorer trying to find the perfect treasure: well-matching attire. I needed to not clash my grays and my greys together.

Wait, what am I supposed to be expecting if I'm supposed to be expecting anything at all? Yeah, I kind of have a thing for men -even though I've never dated anyone before, I still like looking at them- but who knows what kind of people Rei-chan is attracted to! I mean, he could already have some girl wrapped around his finger. And why do I even bother anyway? I don't know anything about him at all.

_But he's given me colors._

The thought alone made my feet freeze, like some villain had popped out from under my bed and shot my feet with some sort of freeze ray. My grip on a light grey and white striped shirt tightened as those ruby frames burned in my memory again. And the faint color of pink that rushed to his cheeks as well, it made my heart stop for a moment. Why... why would this complete stranger give me colors? Sure, there were only two, but that's a lot more than I had ever seen. What was it about this Rei-chan that allowed me to see colors?

It's not like I just happened to find my soul mate, right?

Okay, I lied before about one-hundred percent believing in this kind of stuff. Yeah, I believed that there was some way that people could see colors again, but by finding your soul mate... It's just hard to pour so much of myself into that idea. I'm open to it, yet at the same time, it's just weird to think about, being destined to be with someone. There's a whole mess of people in this world and if one person is _the_ right person...

"...is that you?"

The words escaped me and filled the open air around me, and I blushed at the thought. No, that couldn't be right.

But then again, I don't think I would mind it that much.

-x-

I know I scrubbed my skin at least three-hundred times over, rubbing it raw as to try and get the bird-poop-stink off of me. I would hope the washing machine would have some mercy on my uniform and help remove that awful stench, but my washing machine didn't agree with me most of the time. I would find out later though, I didn't have the time to do my laundry (however, I did have time to use the best body wash and shampoo combo that I own). The smell of penguin poo was gone -or so I believed anyway- and I prayed that Rei-chan couldn't smell it either. All he would be able to smell would be honey and vanilla, right?

Well, it's not like he'd ever actually get close enough to me to catch a whiff anyway.

I chose my favorite striped polo shirt and some light shorts to wear -it was summer time, so I didn't want to get hot!- and glanced at my clock.

I had to do a double-take when 7:55 p.m. was glowing brightly from the cable box.

My feet dashed out of the apartment and I scrambled to lock the door before bee-lining downstairs and out down the road. Good gracious, I felt like some sort of Olympic runner at this point as I sprinted down block after block. I didn't have the time to wait for a bus to come!

_Crap, I'll be late and Rei-chan will get annoyed with me!_

My sandals slapped against the pavement, my lungs gasped for air, and my heart throbbed in my chest as I made my way through the crowds of people walking by me. Wow, did it seem like a lot of people walked, or was it just that I never really bothered to pay attention. And the weirdest thing was that I felt like I had red dots in my vision, red and pink dots every once in a while on people's clothes, the buildings, signs, everything, but I didn't concentrate on that right now. I couldn't afford to get distracted right now.

Panting like a dog, I busted through the café door, causing the little bell on the door to yelp in surprise. As it chimed, my eyes darted around to look for one of two things: Rei-chan or a clock. My eyes found the latter first, and it was 8:10 p.m, much to my heart's displeasure. Flickering from face to face, I tried my hardest to find Rei-chan sitting at one of the little tables or sinking into one of the leather chairs, but I couldn't see those bright ruby frames anywhere. Oh god, he probably got too impatient and--

"You're late."

That deep voice resonated to my right, making me jump and turn my head, and in a moment I became completely relaxed and incredibly stiff at the same time. _He didn't leave! But oh no, he looks_ pissed _._  


"Rei-chan!" I mused, and rushed right over to his table. It was a little square table, and he had his silver laptop open on it. Maybe he had been doing research as he waited? I wasn't sure, but I slid right into the open seat across from him and scooted closer to the table rather loudly. He made a face as I practically leaned over the table, hands folded messily on its surface, and my chin could rest on the top of the screen if I wanted it to -but I didn't since he'd probably shove me off.

"Can you not call me--" He started, then looked up at me. Did the words get caught in his throat or something? Crap, I was probably too close! "--that." His eyes quickly flickered away from my light ones and went back to staring at the screen in front of him. "I've only talked to you one other time, there's no need for such familiarities."

"Oh, come on, _Rei-chan_!" I laughed and smoothed out my shirt. "It doesn't matter, since I feel like we're going to be great friends anyway!"

I watched one of his dark eyes twitched, and he began to type out something on his computer. He looked pretty annoyed with me, and it was a little annoying to me that he was so stiff.

"Who said that?" Rei-chan asked me curtly.

"I did!" I chirped cheerfully, earning a sigh from the other. "But before we can do that, we need to work on your project! So what exactly do you need to know about penguins?" At the mentioning of doing schoolwork, Rei-chan perked up a little, as if he actually _liked_ doing projects. Ick, I never liked them in high school or in university anyway; the middle school projects were okay, but elementary school projects were a lot better because I was allowed to color in everything and make it not as boring looking. Anyway, he ended up asking me a lot of questions about almost everything on penguins, and I wasn't sure if he was interested in the birds themselves or getting the most points on the project. But, I was able to answer almost ever one of his questions, and I didn't mind that that's all we talked about for the longest time. Penguins were awesome! However, I did notice that there would be points when I'd lose my train of thought, since my view would fix on those red glasses.

What was even stranger was that slowly I'd start to see other things that were red too. Rei-chan scolded me once for looking out the window at a neon crimson "OPEN!" sign across the street, and the cafe's workers had red edges on their sleeves. This world was full of this color, wasn't it? It was everywhere, like a treasure box waiting to be unlocked.

And the key was sitting right across from me.

"...and there's somewhere between 17 to 20 species of penguins out there!" I went on, elbows resting on the table with my chin on my hands, "It's really quite fascinating to see all the variations between them. My favorite species is the rock-hopper, but the most famous is..."

My eyes had wandered off to those red frames again when they caught the sight of something else behind them.

The bright white glare of the computer screen had blocked Rei-chan's eyes before, but when he moved, they looked like they changed. They were a deep hue, something rich and fine and bright, something royal or so. I wasn't sure what the color was, but it wasn't red or any kind of black and white mix.

_Violet._

The word floated in my head again as I suddenly straightened up in surprise, feeling like I was lost in those violet hues. It was like a tiny implosion of vibrancy, expanding out from his eyes and sucking me in, until I couldn't hear the world anymore. I couldn't feel the cool wood surface of our table, nor the cushion in my seat. I couldn't smell the scent of coffee and mocha anymore, almost all of my senses had faded into the vortex of violet. Sight was all I had left, but the purple paint in Rei-chan's eyes had stolen that from me, since that was all I could really look at or all I really wanted to look at anyway. "...hey."

"Hey."

"Hey! Hazuki-san!" the other male's voice ripped me out of my imagination, and I blinked rapidly, adjusting to the outside world again, but my wide eyes met with Rei-chan's again. Thankfully I had enough reason not to fall into them again. "I said you could continue. Why do you keep staring at me like that?" He pressed, raising an eyebrow at me suspiciously. I stammered, feeling like I had cotton-balls in my mouth.

"Y-Your eyes are beautiful, Rei-chan!" I blurted out, making him stop. I froze.

_Now you did it._

My heart started thundering in my chest and my ears, and said hearing-organs were heating up with every silent second that ticked by. Oh man, oh man, oh man, was Rei-chan mad? He was just staring back at me, as if I said he was growing a third arm or something. That light red color, what was it again, pink?, showed up on the man's cheeks, as he just kept on _staring._  


"E-Er," I tried to recover, leaning back in my seat, "Yeah. They look really nice. L-Like a penguin's eyes! Yeah, we're talking about penguins aren't we? Haha..." I laughed nervously, instantly regretting the crap coming from my mouth. Well, so much for being friends with him, since he's probably going to think that I'm super weird or something.

"Thank you?" he answered, looking away from me and focusing his attention on his computer, and I wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. Or maybe I could just mold into this chair, and become one. The only problems chairs have is when people that are way too big for them sit in them and break them. Or when little kids stomp on them (I used to do that, but that's besides the point).

I just really wanted to go home all of a sudden.

"No one's ever told me that before," Rei-chan added on as he typed some more things on his computer, and he mumbled out, "So thanks."

"Yeah!" I swallowed and sat up again, trying to at least look confident in front of him. I blurted out a great truth, so I have to own up to it! "I really hope that doesn't come off as weird or anything, since boys don't usually say that to other boys... I was just surprised."

"Hm."  A little hum came from Rei-chan's throat, and I wasn't sure exactly how approving or disapproving it was. He let out a breath and tilted down his screen a little so that his eyes could meet mine again, causing him to hesitate. "If a boy wants to say such things to another boy, let him, as with girls and girls too. Attraction isn't always between a man and a woman, and if it turns out to be a beautiful love, then let it be. That's what I've come to believe, anyway." With that, he took a sip of his coffee -geeze did he always have that? I didn't notice- and opened his computer back up again, returning his focus to it. At his words, I felt myself relax and my sudden fears had ebbed away, allowing me to dish out more information on the different species of penguins. Sure, Rei-chan was really a cold-hard-facts kind of person and really strict, but I could tell that there was another side of him that I couldn't see all the way just yet. But I guess that's what developing interest in someone is; people are like food. You take one bite, just one taste of someone, and if it's delicious, you just want more.

If Rei-chan was a food, I would say he was something like a lemon. At first, he seemed like a bit of a sour-puss, but I had a hunch he wasn't so strict with everything.

I wanted another taste.

Those violet eyes would flicker up and down, meeting my gaze and then that of the computer's, hanging onto every fact that I said. I didn't know everything, but I knew a lot -since that was kind of in the job description- and I felt like both of us were becoming a little more comfortable. I even ended up making some penguin-like "Caw"'s and "Bwah"'s, causing other people in the café to stare. Rei-chan did too, but then I would hear a tiny little chuckle come from him under his breath.

I couldn't help but wonder what a full-blown guffaw from him would be like. Would he be ticklish? A little grin formed on my mouth, the thought just tugging my lips up. He didn't look like the ticklish kind of person, but people can surprise you in all sorts of ways. The question jumped out of my mouth before my tongue could hold it back, "Hey, Rei-chan, are you ticklish?"

"What?" he stopped his typing and gave me an odd glance.

"I'm just curious," my mouth sprung on at the chance to speak, "So, are you?"

He didn't answer at first, as if he really didn't want to answer that, but he sighed out, "In some places."

"What?" I gasped, "Where?" See, people could be surprising.

"Why would I tell you? That's like telling a robber what the combination to a safe is!"

"But I wanna _knoooooow_!"I whined, scooting forward again. He rolled his eyes at me and took another sip of his coffee. " _Pleeeeeeeease?_ " I dragged the word out for as long as I possibly could until his eyebrow twitched. I leaned forward a little more, until my chin rested on his laptop, his eyes flashing brilliantly at me. Maybe it was the light from the computer, but it looked like his eyes were sparkling, like a pair of tiny galaxies. They closed for a moment as Rei-chan shook his head. "No."

"Please?" I repeated, pouting sadly at him.

"No!"

" _Pleeease_?"

"I said no, alright?" he huffed at me, and I groaned in defeat. Damn, it seemed like Rei-chan wouldn't budge, and I pulled away. My eyes meandered around the room again, and this time I noticed that there was really no one there. Outside, it was dark, and I could hear some of the employees scooting the chairs around, getting ready to close up shop. "Huh?" I breathed, "Is it that late already?"

"Hm?" He hummed in reply and looked up at me. It was then he noticed the severe lack of people around besides the employees. "What?! I didn't even notice how late it was, I really hope I didn't keep you too long."  

At that, I waved my hands insistently, sputtering out, "No, no, no! It's okay, really. Even though I did a lot more talking than you did, I actually had a lot of fun. Maybe we could meet up again some time and talk some more?" Rei-chan hesitated to answer, and I leaned forward slightly, hanging on his soon-to-be-said words. I could hear a voice in the back of my head quietly praying that the violet-eyed man would say yes, and it felt like forever before he made some sort of reply. The dark-haired male moved into his laptop bag and pulled out a pen before he reached into the napkin dispenser and pulled one out. He scribbled down something quickly and handed the napkin to me after, adjusting his glasses as he rose to his feet. He looked a little flustered as he spoke, "I guess send me an e-mail? I'm usually very busy with schoolwork, so I may not have time to reply quickly but--"

"Thank you!"

I blurted it out so quickly, like I was much more eager about meeting up with him again than I thought. Unconsciously, I pressed the white napkin to my chest like it was some sort of treasure entrusted to me to protect then beamed up at him, feeling like I was lighting up the café. "I had a really fun time, Rei-chan, so I look forward to seeing you again!"

That pink color showed up on his off-white cheeks, and he scratched the back of his head. "You're a very enthusiastic person," he mumbled to me, glancing into space then proceeding to pack his things away.

"I may be," I commented with a grin, "But I think it makes life a little more entertaining that way."

He just made a face at me as he slung his bag over his shoulder, throwing his empty coffee cup in the nearest dark can -which I couldn't help but notice the red lid on it- and  headed out the door. When I followed out after him, he turned to face me for the last time that night. "I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself, Hazuki-san," he told me, keeping those violet orbs on me. The weight of his gaze was heavy on my shoulders, but I didn't mind it so much, since I was able to look back up into those beautiful hues. A part of me wanted to stop him from saying this goodbye, to keep on talking all night about anything. I would be willing to give an hour-long speech about penguins if it meant that I could earn Rei-chan's attention. "See you sometime later, I suppose," Rei-chan added on as he turned to go on his way, and I noticed the darkest highlights of his hair had traces of violet in them. It made me wonder what color Rei-chan's hair was, what it was beneath the gray.

"Yeah, I'll see you later, Rei-chan!" I called out after him, waving to his back as he walked away.

  
_Tap, tap, tap_ went my footsteps against the pavement as I, too, made my way back home, and I held that little napkin to my chest again. Yeah, it was just some contact information on the little piece of paper, but I couldn't help but adore it. I could see Rei-chan again, and get to know him better. We could be great friends, maybe more than that one day... Okay, I'll admit it, even though Rei-chan is as strict as an angry teacher and is a man of few words, I still developed a little crush on him. He was a very smart person with an incredible work-ethic as far as I knew, and he was attractive both inside and out. I mean, I had just met him -and I didn't really give him much of a chance to talk about himself, but we had a job to do!- but I had a really good feeling to him. Almost... almost like I was drawn to him in some strange way.

More than anything, I was just excited that I would be able to see him again.

I hugged myself on the way home, the grin spreading out on my cheeks as wide as the ocean, and my heart beating like a drum in an upbeat song. _Rei-chan, tell me what you're like?_ I thought, _Rei-chan, what's your favorite food? Do you do anything besides study? What do you want to do when you grow up?_  


  
_I want to know everything about you, Rei-chan._ I couldn't help but run the questions through my head as I walked home, trying to imagine what a real casual conversation would be like with him. Boy, it got me so excited that my feet tapped faster, like I was dancing on clouds, or like I was a penguin just gliding through.

When I arrived at the front door of my apartment, I pulled the napkin from my pocket and read Rei-chan's e-mail address again and again, smiling softly to myself.

"Yeah, see you soon, Rei-chan," I muttered as I tucked it away and opened the door.


End file.
